12 Days of Christmas
by Leopardfire97
Summary: Human!ThunderClan throws a Christmas party. Twelve short stories about different people feeling the holiday cheer. Takes place before Long Shadows (when everything is still happy).
1. Intoduction

The Christmas party was just getting into full swing; practically all of ThunderClan was there, enjoying the atmosphere. The decorations were particularly ornate, and everyone was in the Yuletide spirit. The large living room of Firestar's house was almost packed with cheerful people. But everyone was affected differently by the bright lights and the holiday music. Some people thought of friends they once knew, others thought of futures to come, but all thought of Christmas—they just all had different ways of doing it.


	2. Day 1:Tannenbaum

**Hey, to anyone following Second Chance Agency, my other story, it's going on break right now until I finish this Christmas thing. So enjoy!**

The morning before the party, Firestar, while out purchasing supplies, had left his nephew in charge of decorating the Christmas tree. It was a nice, tall pine, picked out from the clearing near the ShadowClan border. Cloudtail was somewhat upset about this task (it was a very large tree), but he had called his wife and she had agreed to come over. The white-haired man had been waiting, and finally the doorbell rang. He rushed to the door and opened it. "Merry Christmas," she said, and gave him a light kiss before stepping inside. Brightheart was wearing an orange sweater and had her hair done over one side of her face as usual. Cloudtail led her into the living room. "I'm so glad you came! Here's the problem," he said and pointed to the tree.

"Oh, that's a beautiful tree! But shouldn't it be decorated by now? The party's only this afternoon," she asked. "Exactly! Firestar left and told me to get it done!" Cloudtail answered, gesturing wildly with his hands. "And you didn't because..?" "Hello?" he said exasperatedly. "You know I'm no good with fashion or interior design and whatnot!" The poor guy really seemed upset. "I sat here for a couple of hours thinking of what to do, and then I was like, 'Duh! Brightheart can help/do it for me!'" His tirade finished, he stood and looked expectantly at his wife. Brightheart inhaled and sighed. She would have just left the house, but she couldn't stay mad at the idiot for long. "Fine, I'll help," she said, "but we'll have to work quickly. Where are the ornaments?"

After a couple of minutes searching for the trapdoor in the ceiling that led to the attic, as well as couple of bumps to Cloudtail's head, the large cardboard box labeled 'Ornaments' was brought down and opened. The man looked in and whistled. "That's a lot of shiny balls," he commented. Brightheart took out a tiny ceramic nutcracker. "The shiny balls go on last," she instructed. "Uniquely designed ones go first and the shiny balls are just filler." She hung it on the tree and searched for others. Cloudtail shook his head in wonder. "See, what would I do without you?" "Nothing. The tree would be completely undecorated if it were up to you," she rebuked nonchalantly. "Now hand me one of those polar bear ones."

It was slow work, and it proved difficult. Cloudtail was right; he really was clueless about this sort of thing. The pair managed to get the tree mostly covered by 12:30. All they had left to do was the filler ornaments, the lights, and the star. "Should we do the star first?" he asked Brightheart. "Why in the world would we do the star first?" she asked him. "It'd be too hard to climb with all those lights on there," he replied. She developed an incredulous look on her face. "You don't have a ladder?" "Nope." "Stool?" "Nope." "… anything?" "Don't you always climb up the tree to put the star on?" Brightheart slapped her forehead. "No! You never climb up the tree!" Cloudtail seemed taken aback. "Hey, chillax! I got this," he reassured her. "It can't be any harder than climbing a regular tree."

Brightheart watched nervously as he scaled the branches to put the star on the top of the tree. The white-haired man struggled to find footholds. It wasn't that tall, but it seemed to take him forever to reach the top. He was finally within reaching distance of the peak, but as he leaned over to place the shining topper, his foot lost grip on the branch he was standing on. Desperately trying to place it, he stepped on a glass ornament, which of course he slipped on. "Cloudtail!" Brightheart shouted, as he fell down jerkily, trying to grasp at branches. She rushed out to where he was in an attempt to break his fall, but he got a handhold on a branch and seemed to be safe—until the tree bent with his weight. In a painstaking moment of panic, the tree came down on top of both of them with a resounding crash.

The couple struggled out from under the conifer. "Cloudtail? Are you all right?" she asked him. He didn't answer, however. He was staring miserably at the wreckage. Pine needles were everywhere. The tree itself lie horizontally on the floor like a beached yuletide whale. Worst of all were the ornaments. Nearly all of them were broken, and the ones that weren't were badly damaged. "Look what I did," he said quietly. "Nobody's perfect, honey," she assured him, but his voice rose. "No, but just for this one hour I had to get everything perfect! And surprise, surprise, I screwed it up again!" "Cloudtail, the tree doesn't have to be perfect-" "YES, it does!" he yelled. "If it's not perfect, it's not beautiful!" The words hung in the air like a fatal gas. Brightheart's eyes welled up with tears. Cloudtail seemed to realize what he had said. "No, wait, I didn't-" But she had already ran out of the room.

Cloudtail stood there stunned. The tree seemed not to matter anymore. How could he have been so stupid? Knowing what he had to do, he chased after her. "Brightheart!" he called. She was standing in a room with her arms crossed over her body. Sniffling was continuously heard. He walked up to her. "Listen, it's pretty clear that I can be an idiot sometimes. Well, most of the time, actually. But believe me when I say this." He turned her to face him and brushed the hair off the right half of her face. The scarred tissue that she often tried to hide was revealed. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He gingerly rubbed the raw skin. "All of you," he whispered. Both closed their eyes and shared a kiss. Not a terribly long one, but one that let Cloudtail know he was forgiven and Brightheart never had a doubt he would be.

It didn't take too long to sweep up the mess. After putting the star on the tree while it was still on the ground, they managed to stand it back upright. But now it was completely devoid of ornaments. "Now what? We're out of decorations," Brightheart asked. Cloudtail shrugged. "We've still got lots of shiny balls." It wasn't the most complex tree, or the most diverse. It was simply red and silver spheres hanging on branches with a simple string of white lights. The star didn't even light up any more where he dropped it. The Christmas tree that year was far from perfect, yet no one who saw it could deny that it was one of the most beautiful trees they had ever seen.


	3. Day 2: Shopping

**Sorry, failed to post yesterday, so I'll have to post two in one day. This looks like it's going to get positive feedback. Tell your friends!**

There are a lot of things in this world that can be procrastinated till the last minute with no negative repercussions. Christmas shopping is not one of them. It would be no sweat to find Daisy a gift, Spiderleg had told himself. Even with the holiday traffic it wouldn't take too long to get something from the supermarket or department store. Of course, he had neglected the fact that he had no idea what she wanted. The black-haired man tried desperately to remember if she had asked for anything in particular this year. Nothing was jumping to mind. It was Christmas Eve, for crying out loud, if he wanted to get anything he would have to leave soon. Real soon.

"So, Daisy!" he said smoothly coming up behind where she was working in the kitchen. She jumped a little and turned around. "Oh, hey," she said. "What is it?" Spiderleg scratched his head. "Oh, I was just… going out for groceries and wondered if you wanted anything." The blonde put down the knife she was chopping carrots with and thought. "Well, I could use a bit of garlic for the casserole I'm serving at the party tonight." "Garlic. Like, a whole lot of it? A life's supply of garlic, would that make you happy?" Daisy looked at him with a bewildered expression and laughed. "Just a clove or two, how much casserole do you think I'm making?" Spiderleg laughed. "Ha ha, how silly of me. Well, would you look at the time! I'd better get going." Daisy went back to chopping vegetables. Spiderleg left, still not knowing what to get her for Christmas. "Oh, wait, honey," she called. He stopped. "Yeah?" There was a small pause, then she said, "Bring the kids with you, will you? I don't want them messing with the cooking."

_Oh no. Oh dear StarClan no_. "Are-are you sure?" he called back. "Yeah," she said. He cringed. "Oookay!" he said. "Shoot," he muttered under his breath. The kids would make everything that much more complicated. "Breathe, Spiderleg," he told himself. "You got this." He threw open the door to the kids' room, but they weren't inside. "Hello?" he called to the empty room. Then a voice from above him said, "Sneak attack!" a black and white blur fell on his head. "ACK! What the-" he shouted. Pulling Toadkit off his face, he looked around for Rosekit, to see that she was hanging on the ceiling right above him. "Oh no-" His cries were in vain; Rosekit was soon on top of him as well. After a brief struggle, he was able to detach them from his body. Holding them at arms' length, he sternly addressed them. "You are coming with me to get mommy a present and if you cause any trouble I will personally feed you to the elders." Rosekit and Toadkit looked at each other, then smiled and said, "Okay!" Spiderleg sighed. "Good. Now let's get this done in a calm and orderly fashion.

Either Spiderleg had misspoken, or the kids' idea of calm and orderly was something completely different. The car ride was torture. Hearing a rendition of Jingle Bells (minus half the words) by a pair of six-year-olds was the kind of thing that made his eye twitch. By the time they got to the third verse, which Spiderleg didn't even think existed, he was at the end of his rope. When they reached a stoplight, he turned around and screamed. "Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, please—stop—singing!" A moment's pause, and then the duo struck up the chorus with enthusiastic humming. Just when he thought he would die of an aneurism, he pulled into the parking lot. "Finally," he said. There was a large sign next to the building: "Ultimart! If you don't need it, it's probably here!" If he was going to find a gift anywhere, it would be here.

As he pushed the shopping cart around, his children followed him, looking around in awe of all the unbridled commercialism. "So, kids," Spiderleg asked, "what should we get for mommy?" Toadkit, after careful thought, replied, "A flamethrower!" Rosekit punched him in the arm. "Ow!" "She doesn't want that, she wants something pretty, like a unicorn!" "Daddy, she hit me!" The man banged his head on the shopping cart handle. "Remember kids, we're looking for something _she_ would want, not you," He looked up at the signs marking the aisles. _Would she want a new phone? No, she's happy with her current one… Perhaps a pair of shoes? But that makes me look cheap!_ He had an idea. "Quick kids, come with me! We're getting your mother some jewelry!" With newfound determination, he charged the cart towards the Jewelers. The kids grabbed on to the side of the cart as he went.

Finally reaching the department with all the jewelry, he stopped and started looking around. Nothing really stood out, but then he saw it: a silver necklace in the shape of a flower, with a large diamond in the center. It was almost eerie how perfect the gift was for her. "Hey kids! Come look at this one!" There was no response. Spiderleg froze. The kids were never quiet. "Kids?" he called. "Rosekit? Toadkit?" Still no answer. His heart rate doubled. "Rosekit! Toadkit! Where are you?" he ran around the store. Every department was looked in, but there was still no sign of them. He stopped everyone he could to ask if they had seen his son and daughter, but the most he got was a gruff "No". He must have been searching at least an hour when he sank down onto a bench beside a fountain. He buried his head in his hands and started crying. "I can't believe I let this happen," he said to himself.

He had been sitting there when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see a mall security official. "I hear you're missing your children?" Spiderleg nodded. "Come with me." He followed the officer to a room that said "Lost and Found" and opened the door. Sure enough, his kids were sitting, spinning around in swivel chairs. "Kids!" he shouted. "Daddy!" they said simultaneously. Before they could even get up, he scooped them up and hugged them close to his body. "Don't ever run away from me again," he said through tears. "Geez, dad, we just went to the bathroom," Toadkit said. Putting them down, he said, "Let's go home." On the way out of the store, he knew that he had missed the perfect gift opportunity, but there was no time to go back and find the necklace. He did, however, notice a sign advertising half-price off a certain spice.

He walked into the kitchen, trying not to look to dejected, and set a large clove of garlic on the counter. "Thank you, honey," she said. Then she looked at him, expecting him to be carrying more bags. "Did you get anything else?" Spiderleg avoided her eyes. "No," he murmured. "You know, I could tell you were going Christmas shopping," she told him. He looked up, bewildered. "It's the thought that counts, Spiderleg," she continued. "You don't need to get me anything fancy. Besides," she said, chopping up the garlic, "this is a good enough present for me." "What is?" he asked. "This," she said, and kissed him. "Now why don't you go play with the kids?" Spiderleg heard a crash followed by laughter in the living room and smiled. "Why don't I," he said, and tiptoed toward the room before pouncing on his children yelling, "Sneak attack!"


	4. Day 3: Gamers

**Okay, so I severely overestimated my ability to write one story per day. This will hopefully be done by the end of January. Thanks to all my reviewers: imlegitdemigod, Icecloud447, Brambletail88, Goldenleaf11, and Jayfeather555. Your input is greatly appreciated! Oh, and Merry Christmas!**

"Come on guys, this way!" a golden-haired boy called, gesturing into a large room. Behind him were three teenagers, one of them a strawberry blond male, the other two a male and female, both with dark gray hair. "Slow down," the blond called. "What's the matter, Berrynose? A little out of shape?" Berrynose responded with a sniff. "As if, Hazeltail. I just don't want to wear myself out before the party." Mousewhisker rolled his eyes. "Can we just go already?" The trio was about to enter the room when Lionpaw cropped up in front of them. "Before you enter, I would like you to know that what you are about to see may change your lives forever." He dramatically waved his arm into the room and they all stepped in. The sight made them audibly gasp.

Mounted on the wall like a gateway to the heavens was the largest television they had ever seen. Mousewhisker whistled. "Would you look at the size of that thing's screen? It's got a huge monitor!" Berrynose said, awestruck. Hazeltail turned to Lionpaw. "I must admit, Lionpaw, when you said you would blow our minds, I had my doubts. But this," she said, pointing at the flatscreen, "is unreal." "Just wait, it gets better." From behind his back, the golden-haired boy procured a video game case. It wasn't shining in a pillar of light, but it might as well have been. "No way," Mousewhisker said softly. "Is that-?"

Lionpaw nodded. "Modern Warrior 3, in the flesh." "I can't believe your dad let us use his TV!" Berrynose said in wonder. "Yeah, I can't either," Lionpaw said with a nervous laugh as he popped the disk into the X-Box, and the menu loaded. He selected the game then handed each of the siblings a controller.

_Welcome back, LeoInferno._ The game displayed his achievements and recent activity. Fiddling with the joystick, he moved and selected "Competitive Mode". "All right, guys, type in a username. Soon Berrynose, Hazeltail, and Mousewhisker became Berryisawesome, WitchHazel, and Jerry444. A message popped up on screen: _ColdHeartedWind has invited you to battle. _"Who's ColdHeartedWind?" Mousewhisker asked. "I don't know," Lionpaw said. "Should I accept?" Berrynose shrugged. Lionpaw selected Accept Invitation with the joystick. "_Prepare for battle_!" The game voice shouted at them. "Nice surround sound," Mousewhisker whispered. "_Select your army_!"

Lionpaw selected ThunderClan, and saw that his opponent had selected WindClan. "I guess I expected that," he said. "_Are you prepared to fight?"_ "Heck yeah we are!" he shouted, and selected yes. ColdHeartedWind did the same.

The screen flashed red and zoomed into a battle field. "_Flip a coin for home turf advantage!" _The coin flipped in the sky, and when it came down it landed on the ThunderClan symbol. "All right!" Hazeltail shouted. "3… 2…1… BEGIN!" And like that, the battle started. Lionpaw turned on his and the others' microphones. "Yo, ColdHeartedWind! I don't know who you are, but a Merry Christmas to ya!" "Likewise," the opponent responded in a voice that was somehow familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. "Here's your present!" ColdHeartedWind said, and a firebomb was dropped onto Berryisawesome's encampment. Berrynose gasped. "Why, the nerve! You shall pay for your insolence!" The fighting continued for about an hour, going back and forth between each team winning.

"I gotta say, whoever you are, you're pretty good," Lionpaw said admiringly. "Maybe we could meet up in real life at a gathering or something?" There was a moment's hesitation. "Uh, yeah, that'd be great," ColdHeartedWind replied. Hazeltail facepalmed. "It's Breezepaw, you idiot," she said softly, out of the microphone. "Duh," Berrynose confirmed. "Who else would name themselves 'ColdHeartedWind'?" Lionpaw thought about it. It made a lot of sense. "Hey, this isn't Breezepaw, is it?" he called into the microphone. "What?" the voice replied then got considerably deeper. "I mean, yup, you figured me out. You're Lionpaw, right?" "Yeah, that's me!" Lionpaw replied. Well, that was the power of Christmas for you. Two rivals can set apart their distances and enjoy a good game of MW3.

"Merry Christmas, Breezepaw, and everyone over there in WindClan!" he shouted. His clanmates echoed the Yuletide wish. "Thanks, guys, merry Christmas over in ThunderClan too!" Then there was a slamming door on ColdHeartedWind's end. "Heatherpaw? What are you doing on my account?" "I, uh-" Then the connection cut out. Lionpaw dropped the controller. "So that was Heatherpaw the whole time?" he asked. Mousewhisker nodded. "Why did she say she was Breezepaw?" Hazeltail shrugged. "Probably because you wouldn't talk to her if you knew who she was." "Why do you hate her, anyway?" Berrynose asked. "She seemed pretty cool to me." Lionpaw looked off into the distance. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. That day, the Christmas spirit was responsible for bringing old friends together again—through violence and explosions.


End file.
